How to Break a Girl
by EamonSweetmay
Summary: Just after PB. Riddick left Jack behind in New Mecca, but Jack is determined to hunt him down. Riddick is hurt by Jack's last words and wonders why he'd leave her at all. Rated for language, hinted rape and violence.
1. Wounds Chapter one

**How to Break a Girl**

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Disclaimer: I don't claim to own Pitch Black - though I would like to own Vin Diesel

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Wounds - **Jack**

_When I said that it would suit me fine,_

_If you were out of sight and out of mind_

_That wasn't me talking,_

_That was my wounded pride._

_(Trisha – "Believe me baby (I lied)" )_

What the fuck was I thinking? What load of fucking shit-pile of fuck brought the plan of following Riddick to my retarded, shit of a brain?

I was staying in some dump of a motel somewhere in the outskirts of New Mecca, with nothing but a homemade knife and some money I stole.

I'd done a lot of _fucked-up_ things in my life, such as leaving home to become a pilot, stealing from mercs and stowing away on the _Hunter Gratzner_. But leaving Imam to follow Riddick, to dust up a guy who is close to non-existing, that'll have to take the prize.

Our parting wasn't too pleasant, though. All shit full of shouting and stuff. Riddick had my whole life planed out; go with Imam, go to school, grow up, live happily ever after – all the shit that made me run away from my parents to begin with.

And how did Riddick get so fucking holy all of a sudden? Not like he'd ever dream of settling down himself! Not like _living happily ever after_ was a concept he'd care to explore…

Somewhere in my head a bubble burst. Of course he'd never settle down. So what was the fucking point in trying to track him down? Even if I'd find him – not likely – he'd just tell me to go back to Imam. Or even worse: my family.

He'd tell me the same tings that made me scream at him at the docking port, when we'd left the merc ship: it's not safe with me; you're going to be a young woman soon; you should be somewhere with people who can love you and take care of you! Shit-load of crap!

I told him blank out that he could go fuck himself. I'd never said anything like that to him, and I think it kinda hurt him. Serves him right. But my painful discourse didn't end there, oh no. I told him that if he cared so little about me, and obviously couldn't stand having me around, I wouldn't care if I'd never see him again, that he could drop dead or get killed by mercs and I wouldn't care. He got a sort of worried frown when I was done, looked like he'd might say something soothing, but I just spun on my heels and made a run for it. I only just made it behind the nearest building before the tears came.

When Imam found me huddled behind some liquor store dumpster, Riddick was long gone. Imam smiled when he found me, said that Riddick and I were more alike than any of us knew. Then he told me about how Riddick's life started out in a liquor store trash bin just like the one I'd found. I might have felt something close to pity at the time, but somehow _hate_ drowned out all other emotions. But the story stuck with me and filled me with doubt, guilt and love, emotions I hadn't felt since my early childhood.

So I left Imam just before our transport to his home planet took off, and I had been following a ghost ever since. Two different planets, hundreds of different cities. He was long gone. That's how I ended up back here in new Mecca.

Copyright © 2006 by EamonSweetmay


	2. Bounds Chapter two

**How to Break a Girl**

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Disclaimer: I don't claim to own Pitch Black – though I would like to own Vin Diesel.

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Bounds – **Riddick**

_I don't want to be the one the battles always choose_

_'Cause inside I realize that I'm the one confused_

_I don't know what's worth fighting for or why I have to scream_

_I don't know why I instigate and say what I don't mean_

_I don't know how I got this way, I know it's not alright_

_So I'm breaking the habit tonight_

_(Linkin Park – "Breaking the habit")_

I saw her body move as the wild music thumped through the speakers in the club. I saw her hair brush through the air as she tossed her head, and knew that her warm blood was pounding to the rhythm of the base. She saw me through the crowd of bodies; she caught a single glimpse of my eyes. With a smile on her beautiful face, she moved in my direction, like a cat, like a hunter. Her body was wet with sweat, her chest rising as she breathed in heavily, making the strings in her corset stretch. Her body was slim, muscular, and agile. Her skin was white and soft, and her eyes...

I knew those eyes. An autumn forest, green, specked with crimson, brown and golden leaves, rustling in the warm breeze, against a deep blue, never-ending sky. September eyes. Jacks eyes. She leaned in and let me wrap my hands around her hips. I took a deep breath, smelled her scent.

The light was crushing and disoriented me for a few seconds. When I had put on my glasses and cleared my head from the dream I had been having, I remembered that I was in some abandoned warehouse. With a non-audible curse I got up and left. By the docks I found an unlocked ship, where I washed the blood and sweat off. Then I was on the move again, looking for the prey of the day – a merc called Nicolo Rodrick. I was presumed dead by most mercs, but there were always the single odd fellow, who thought that he could be a hero and hit the big payday. I found him with a whore in a dirty motel. I shot him clean – no pain – and let the whore live. _Soft_, some might call it. _Decent_ would be the choice of words by others. What the fuck did I care, as long as the sonuvabitch was dead.

I was reluctant to leave this planet, to get aboard another ship. I had gotten a bit claustrophobic after the last flight, where the ass-hole of a captain had forgotten to check the power cells, and we had been adrift for weeks, out of cyro-sleep, but still locked in the passenger compartments, which were no bigger than a grown man like me could reach to scratch his own nose. At least I was now traveling without blindfold and horse bit. But that was when the dreams started. Dreams where this beautiful young woman was seducing me, and though she looked nothing like the Jack I remembered, I still knew that it was her. Because of the eyes.

Some nights I felt like I was breaking with pain from having shoved away the only person who had ever accepted me without questions. Other nights I almost hated her, for hating me.

Carolyn was the one who had shown me how to rejoin the human race, as she had put it. But jack was the one who had keep me human. One night on that goddamned skiff she curled up in my lap, like a cat. I allowed myself to enjoy the feel of her body heat and her heartbeat, and she purred as I stroked her shaved head. She was so young, so fragile and still so hardcore, so brutal in her language and in her perception of people and life.

Some old saying goes: Men fear death as children fear to go into the dark.

I've seen grown men piss themselves before I even hurt them. I've seen soldiers cry and beg for me not to kill them. But even though Jack was still a child when I knew her, she didn't fear the dark, fuck, she didn't fear anything.

Why did I leave her? Had no choice, did I? What I've been through these past years since I left her – I bet even Jack would have been scared.

And then there was the parting. I don't know if she really felt those things she said. But I can smell fear, lust and anger – and I could hardly breathe with all the anger she was emitting. My little Jack. Even if I did try to find you, even if I did try to make things right, why then should you ever forgive me for what I did? I left you. Just like I was left. I can't even forgive myself.

Copyright © 2006 by EamonSweetmay


	3. Flaws Chapter three

**How to Break a Girl**

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Disclaimers: I don't claim to own Pitch Black – though I would like to own Vin Diesel

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Flaws – **Jack**

_Here's the chance of life_

_Get ready, set, fly, high_

_Above the fears of you mind_

_Go for it, it's hit or miss_

_Too late for you to quit._

_(Athena Cage – "All or Nothing")_

Brutal pain was threatening to split open her head as she fought to keep conscious. She dragged herself the last few meters, and passed out on the floor, next to the unmade bed. A puddle of blood was the last thing she registered before she passed out.

It was mid-noon before she woke again, although it was hard to tell, because of the constant pale light in the city, night and day alike. She was in her motel room, cramped together like a fetus on the smooth terrazzo floor of the bathroom. There was blood in the sink and all over the floor. Sometime during the night she must have dragged herself out here to get water, and she had left blood tracks on the carpet, from the door to the bed and from a large puddle by the bed a smaller trace of blood let to the bathroom.

She remembered screams, but thought they might be her own. But she hadn't been the only one screaming. Not when she left the parking lot. She had that knife for a reason, and the three young men, who had attacked her had been dead or dying when she left.

She tried to puke, but she hadn't eaten for days and a rough mixture of water and acid was all that ended in the toilet.

It wasn't like she hadn't killed someone before, but for some reason the latent anger she felt for Riddick had overwhelmed her last night and those young men died in the most painful ways. At least they had money, so they would be buying her dinner today. Thanks guys.

She found an isolated road café where two truckers were eating fried beans and toast and the waiter called her honey, and handed her a wet towel for her head, which had started to bleed again.

It took her two hours to eat the sausage and mashed potatoes, and the constant pale light outside was somehow darker when she left.

Outside the café a bulletin screen was showing updates on bounties and outlawed. No Riddick. There never was.

But at least she knew she was on his tail now. Some whore she had met out on the streets last night, just before she had been attacked, had seen him. Said he had killed her costumer; She remembered because of the eyes. She said it wasn't three days ago.

Back at the motel Jack met Carla, a hype who she had allowed to stay at the room once in a while. The two barely talked; Carla knew very few words and the once she did knew was a mess between swearwords and made-up ones.

But that night Carla surprised Jack.

"Ya know… ya had one motherfucking guy here to see ya." She said hoarsely. She was lying in the empty tub in the bathroom, drawing stars in the air with her index finger.

"Who?"

"Some sonuvabitch. Thought he was a fucking cup at first, coz of the shit-ass of a gun. Fucking turned out he was just somebody. Somebody fucking else. A dick." She stopped drawing stars and looked at Jack who was standing in the bathroom door. "Said 'e was lookin' for one Jack, and I said in my fucking self:I fucking know one Jack."

"Who was he? What did he want?"

"Umm, dunno f'sure. Said 'e be back later, the sonuvabitch did."

For some reason Jacks hand had reached for the knife in her belt. "What about his eyes? Was his eyes weird?"

"Weird? No. I dunno really. He was wearin' some glasses of a sort." Jack took a step back. Carla just keep talking. As if she had finally talked her self warm, and thought she'd say all the words she never normally said. "Black glasses. His clothes was all fucking black too. Dunno why I thought him to be a motherfucking cup, really. Dunno."

Jack was at the door before Carla had stopped talking. She didn't know why she was running away, just that she had always thought that she'd be the one to find Riddick, not the other way around.

How did he even find her? How could he know where she was? She'd let her hair grow out, she'd grown taller and older – looked nothing like the Jack he used to know. So how did he find her? Had he talked to Imam?

She was halfway down the streets when she heard a yell.

"Hey ya, Jack." It was Carla. "Where the fucking hell d'ya think ya going? That sonuvabitch is here to see ya."

She had been running about a minute or so, when she knew he was right behind her. She didn't know why she was running, just knew she was suddenly scared. Scared of Riddick? Normal people would have good reason, but Jack didn't.

So she stopped dead and leaned against a brick-wall, tears streaming down her cheeks, shaking like a dog, which has just been kicked by its owner. Her legs gave in and he caught her in his arms.

She looked up and saw that he hadn't changed a bit; that same smug smile on his face. And suddenly anger caught hold of her again, and she started to kick and hit every part of his body she could reach. He let her. He kept his arms around her, and he hushed her like someone would hush a pet or a baby.

When she was spent, she relaxed in his arms. She didn't even have the strength to cry.

"How the fuck did you find me?" she whispered. It was so softly, she wasn't even sure he heard it.

"Not difficult. Just had to follow the trail of dead bodies."

She smiled. "Likewise."

He picked her up, like she was made from dust bunnies, but she fought her way out of his arms and demanded to walk on her own two feet. He smiled.

"You smell beautiful." He said putting a hand on her head and stroking her hair.

"Furyans!" she hissed, and gave him a sharp look.

His smile widened. "Don't even get me started!"

Copyright © 2006 by EamonSweetmay


	4. Bravery Chapter four

**How to Break a Girl**

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Disclaimers: I don't claim to own Pitch Black – though I would like to own Vin Diesel

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Bravery – **Riddick**

And I see no bravery,

No bravery

In your eyes anymore.

Only sadness.

(James Blunt – "No Bravery")

She past out halfway back to her motel room, and I knew her blood loss had been dangerous. I'd seen her room and the blood allover the floor and walls. I picked her up and carried her to a ship at the docking port. She was out cold for at least a few hours. It was night, but that didn't matter, not here. The city was so brightly lit, and the sky was blocked out by a constant mist covering the buildings, making the whole goddamned city look like a ghost city.

I took a look at the cut in the back of her head and the other serious wounds, thigh, back and chest, where she had been cut. There were old scars everywhere; one bullet hole; two cuts, which looked to have been deep; several smaller cuts all over her body. She had been in more than just cat fights. These had been fights for life and death.

I'd always told myself that as long as she was not with me, she'd be safe. Guess I was wrong. Interesting.

She had grown. She was taller, more muscular. She had hips and breasts and she had let her hair grow long; all those woman things. And I couldn't help but notice that she somehow smelled different too.

As a furyan I noticed the animal trades much more than other people, and for that very reason the smell of a woman intoxicated me that much more. I sat there looking at her, at the fine lines of her face, the little twitches at her eyes and her lips caused by her dreams. I saw every little scar. I watched how her childish hands were clenched at her side, how her chest would rise and sink as she breathed. I smelled her sweat, her blood. Then I left.

I walked out into the city, needed to clear my mind.

She looked like the woman from my nightly dreams, but, and I knew this, only for as long as she was asleep. When she would wake, she'd be the tiger again, and this time she would be rested, this time she would have the strength to hurt me if she wanted. And she would want to.

I considered for a moment if I should even keep on trying. What was the point? I had already half decided not to go looking for her, when I heard that she was here, in this city. And if I left her again now? She couldn't hate me more than she already did.

When I returned to my ship – well, it was my ship now, I had decided – she was just waking up. I crouched down in a corner, in the dark, where I cold look at her without my goggles. From where she was I knew she couldn't see me, but I knew she'd still know that I was there.

She looked a little dazed at first, but I knew every part of her mind was buzzing with awareness. Instinctively she scanned the room for exits and immediate dangers. When she felt safer, her eyes fell on me. I knew her mind was working overtime, figuring out if she should yell, hug me or just leave. As I had predicted she decided on the last option, getting to her feet with a catlike movement. Unluckily her body wasn't ready for this, and she fell to the floor with a thump. I tilted my head, a gesture that at children was endearing, but with me was just plain vexing. It got her attention, worked her nerves and made her mad. I could smell it.

But even though her anger was overwhelming, I could smell other things as well. Fear… My little Jack was afraid.

She got to her feet, and this time she stayed there. I was blocking the door, but she calculated her chances and decided to give it a shot.

I calculated my chances, grabbed her and slammed her against the wall. She was scratching and biting, but she didn't make a sound. I knew my grip was leaving a bruise on her wrist, but she didn't seem to notice. Finally she relaxed and looked into my eyes. And just then I realized that what she was afraid of was me.

I let go of her wrists, grabbed her shoulders and pulled her close to me. For a few seconds she relaxed. Then she was ready again and fought her way out of my arms, running for the door. I caught her, but she just hissed and bit me.

"Don't make me hurt you, Riddick!" she said.

I laughed. "You hurt me?"

She kicked out, aiming for my crotch, but I grabbed her leg and sent her to the floor on her back. She got up, as if nothing had happened. This wasn't about her being angry or scared anymore. This was power play. This was her wanting me to know that she didn't need me. And me showing her that she was thoroughly wrong.

It was an unfair fight, until she somehow found a switch and turned on the light in the room.

"Glad I never got eyes like that." She taunted and moved, so I couldn't follow her voice.

She launched at me from the front, sending me to the floor with her squatting my chest. I tried to catch her hands, to turn the fight around, but she was faster than me, so I used my legs and got to the part of her that I knew where was: her butt. I wrapped my legs around her hips and rolled, and in less than seconds I had her locked beneath me. She was sweating and panting, and she knew she had lost.

She lifted her hips to find a more comfortable position and she pushed against my groin. I felt my body react and got up off her. I found my goggles and stepped outside, to cool my self down. She came out and stood next to me.

"You know I hated you for leaving." She said. Nothing I didn't know. "But I hated you even more for coming back." I looked away. Shocking me with the truth - always a good tactic. She'd learned it from me.

"I've been looking for you for almost four years, and you just find me in a matter of days…"

"Four years? Did you ever live with the holy man?"

"Ran away right after you left New Mecca."

"I think you have trust issues."

"Wonder where I got those!"

"What was I suppose to do, Jack? Have you tag along. It's not like it's been safe…"

"I wouldn't be tagging along. And it's not like it's been so fucking safe alone either!"

"I didn't ask you to come find me!"

"No you asked me to be a nice little girl! What the fuck were you thinking? That I'd go buy my self a doll and wear a dress? That I'd do what you said? Why? Because you said it?"

"I thought you'd do as I said, because it was the sane thing to do!"

"When the fuck have I ever done anything sane, Riddick? Hu?" She was at the top of her voice and I could smell that she was bleeding again. She tilted backwards, and I caught her before she hit the floor. I took her up in my arms and carried her to the backroom, where there was a bed. She didn't fight me this time. She just curled up in my lap, like she had that one night back at the skiff. I couldn't stop my body from reacting to the closeness of her body and her sent, but she didn't notice. She just fell asleep and had nightmares, where I couldn't protect her.

Copyright © 2006 by EamonSweetmay


	5. Tempted Chapter five

**How to Break a Girl**

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Disclaimers: I don't claim to own Pitch Black – though I would like to own Vin Diesel

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Tempted - **Jack**

_It's been a while_

_Since I could hold my heard up high_

_And it's been a while_

_Since I first saw you…_

_And it's been a while_

_But all that shit seems to disappear_

_When I'm with you_

_(Staind "It's been a while")_

She woke up in Riddick's arms, half sedated by lack of oxygen, half dazed by her blood loss. His grip around her tightened, just a bit so that she would know that he was awake and had registered that she was too.

His body was warm, strong and comforting and she allowed herself to feel safe for the first time since she could remember. She wanted to press her body as close to his as she could get, wanted to feel his breath on her neck and his hand on her body.

For some reason she could feel him pulling away, just a little, and his body tensed. Then she remembered that he could smell lust and she tried to get away, confused by her own feelings, but Riddick let out a groan and pulled her tighter into him. "Schh…" he hushed, and buried his nose in her long mane of hair. She let out a calm sigh, but swore silently to herself. So she had found Riddick, so he seemed to want her around, so fucking what? What now?

She knew there would be no happy ending; there just wasn't room for one in lives like theirs. Question was whether there would even be a happy middle. Course she'd never admit to it, but she knew Riddick had been right. She was becoming a woman, and as a woman she would be a liability to him.

She got up and walked feebly to the exit door. Riddick raised his head to look after her, but lay back down, when he was sure she could stand all right.

She opened the airtight doors and took the first breath of fresh air. She thought it might be day, because people seemed less busy, and she felt like running, stretching her legs and loosing her breath. She watched people as they were shopping useless things, talking about nothing and laughing about even less. They all seemed so normal, and she just couldn't relate.

Suddenly something caught her eyes. "Riddick?" She saw six men move her way, clad in dark, moving like soldiers, packing really big guns. "Riddick?" she said louder, but she wasn't sure he would hear her; her voice seemed to fail her.

One of the men stopped and took aim of her. She stepped backwards, tried to lock the doors, but too late. Shit. A dart hit her in the chest and she could feel her legs going weak. She hadn't heard Riddick, he stepped so lightly, but suddenly he was behind her and he put a hand on her head, like he'd always done when she was younger. She looked up at his face, and he noticed her dazed look, the dart and the men with less than a second between, and he wrapped an arm around her chest, pulled her inside the ship and hit the door lock even faster.

"Mercs!" He put her down on the bed and ran for the control room. She heard him turn on the system and swear because the power cells would need replacement soon.

She dragged herself out into the control room and leaned against the wall.

"_Await permission for take-off. Await permission for take-off_." Riddick didn't even frown. He reached up and crashed the speaker system.

"What did you do, Jack?" He whispered. She looked at him, confused.

"Me? You're the one with mercs in his fucking ass" She panted.

The merc ship was right behind them, which would mean that they would have had to have more crew members waiting at their ship, keeping it ready for take off, which would probably make them a ten-man crew.

Riddick had come to the same conclusion – only faster of course.

"Hardly any mercs know I'm alive." Riddick said. "No one would be stupid enough to form a ten-man crew and go looking for a guy who's dead." He looked over his shoulder and watched her closely. "What did you do? Something that would make me proud?"

Jack tried to smile, but could only achieve a pained grimace. It was hard too keep conscious. "Killed some guys. Tried to rape me." She looked down her chest and found the tiny dart. She pulled it out and let it drop to the floor. "Guess I forgot to clean up."

She drifted in and out of consciousness, and she wasn't sure any of her memories of the flight was real until suddenly Riddick grabbed her and pulled her to her feet. She became aware of the fact that the ship had stopped; the text on the panel said that they would need to replace the power cells.

She heard Riddick whisper in her ear: "Just keep quiet. Don't make a sound." He led her downstairs and into the darkest corner of the backroom. She could hear the mercs breaking open the door and starting a search of the main cabin and the control room. It was a matter of time. She was still sedated and there were ten of them. Maybe the mercs weren't ready for Riddick, which would give the two of them an advantage. They waited quietly, breathlessly.

**

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Eamon:Oh, cliffhanger! **

Noticed that I like to keep Riddick in "I" and Jack in "She"? I figured that Riddick was more of a "this is how I feel, and maybe you don't like it, but I'm gonna tell ya anyhow"-kinda guy. And Jack is more of a "Come hell or high waters, I'll keep how I feel to myself and deny it to my grave, even if I'm the one asking me"-kinda gal.

So that's how come it turned out that way. Riddick'll tell you all you need to know about him, and I will tell you all you need to know about Jack.

Copyright © 2006 by EamonSweetmay


	6. Rumble Chapter six

**How to Break a Girl**

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Disclaimers: I don't claim to own Pitch Black – though I would like to own Vin Diesel

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Rumble - **Riddick**

_If never I met you  
I'd never had seen you cry  
If not for the first "hello"  
We'd never had to say good-bye  
If never I held you  
My feelings would never show  
(Kiss –"Hard Luck Woman")_

They walked right in here in the dark. Didn't even care that the lights couldn't be turned on. Suppose the darkness wasn't that alarming, they'd seen the ship go dark and knew the power cells were empty. The darkness was natural to them. But not as natural as it was to me. Guess they didn't know who they chose to mess with.

I felt the kid tense. She was having difficulties staying conscious, but still I had no doubt she was aware of every little sound around her.

I could smell the mercs, eight of them had ventured on to my ship. None of them would be leaving.

I looked at the kid. She was resting against the wall, looking into the darkness, waiting. She was just as blind as the mercs in this dark, but as I watched her she raised her head and looked strait at me. "You go." She whispered. "I'll stay here."

I raised an eyebrow. "Giving orders?"

"It's only ever an order, if you do it without thinking. Besides, you can kill those mercs faster than you can say _Shinejob_."

"And with more pain than you feel from getting one." I said and smiled at the thought. I stepped over to the door and listened. There was a merc standing right outside. I bust-opened the door and knocked him out with it. He was carrying a small handgun and a stun-gun. I kicked the handgun away and threw the stun-gun to the kid. Less noise when used, less risk of her being found.

She was getting to her feet. All things right, she shouldn't even be awake by now, it was a pretty strong doze put straight in her chest.

"You come back, Riddick." She said, and I just nodded and closed the door, left her in the darkness. I heard her fall back on the floor, and she whispered: "You come back for _me_ this time."

I heard her, felt a little guilty, went to kick some ass.

I decided to clear the main cabin first, but took no risk that they might be wearing night-goggles. I pressed against the wall, listening. I could hear footsteps of two, heart beats of three. One was standing guard by the airtight doors, one was to my left, about six meters plus and one was scouting by the entrance to the control room. I went for the guy to my left.

He was short, but strong-looking. He had a good grip at the modified gun, and both feet solidly planted on the Russian-made carpet. No doubt these guys were decent at what they did. Shit, I bet they were even good. But no night vision. I put a hand over his mouth and nose, forced him frontal against the wall and pushed a knee against his back. A quick snap back on his head and I was down to seven. I lay him down slowly and calculated my next move. If I took out the one scouting by the control-room, the other one by the exit would notice that the pacing had stopped, so I went for the guy by the doors.

He was a challenge; unfocused and scared, which made him jumpy and unpredictable. But no night vision here either. Funny, 'cause they weren't amateurs. Not even the jumpy one. He had his back against the wall and every sense was working overtime. There would be no sneaking up on this guy. So I took aim and started running towards him. Never saw me coming before I knocked his head against the hard ion. When the smell of fear was gone I put him down, slowly and soundlessly. I looked up, quickly, scanned the room. The third guy was gone, left his post. I stopped, knew something was wrong.

They knew I was here. If I went for the control-room all five of them would be waiting for me. Unless…

I turned a corner, and broke into a run. When I got to the back-room the door was still closed, but I could smell she was gone. I opened the door. There was nothing there but a dead merc. Not one I'd killed. The smell of blood was tense, and I knew some of it was hers. I turned. Too late.

They were wearing night-goggles, and even though I heard them, I still had no chance. They had me down in less than seconds. Stunned me 'till I couldn't stand.

Shit, they had a good tactic. Sacrifice play included. Being taken in by five? Nothing I would brag about. But still, it would be a lot easier getting their ship once I was on it. I weren't too worried about me. More about the kid. I knew there wasn't a bounty on her head, so what could make ten mercs go after one little worthless girl? Revenge. She had been messing with some mercs without telling me. Made me kinda proud. Still I knew what these people did as revenge, had been on the receiving end a few times… That made me kinda worried. Kinda…

I woke up, but couldn't see worth a shit. No blindfold, they knew my other senses were so sharp that blindfolding me would mean nothing. Just brightness - painful, confusing brightness. I swore loudly.

"Manners haven't improved much." a voice said. I almost smiled. Well maybe not exactly smiled. Frowned's more like it. And only almost.

"Been a while." He continued. Freddy Pierce. One of the old pals I hadn't done in yet. "You know, we thought you to be dead." That _was_ the plan fuckhead. "You could have checked in and called for a round two." I could imagine his smug smile. "Catching you like this… well, Riddick, it's almost no fun."

"Take off the chains and I'll make it fun, motherfucker." The fucker actually laughed. Hunting bounties must've been really boring with out me around. I just growled and he sorta got serious again.

"So about the girl. Not your own, I take it. You were never one to let women live after you'd done them." I tilted my head. Digging up ugly facts now? I could play that game. "How are your kids? Missing their mom?"

It cost me a kick in the ribs. More than I deserved. After all, I wasn't the one who killed her. I raped her, but I let her live. The motherfucker Pierce couldn't live with a tainted woman and shot her brains out. Not my fault.

At least he left the room. Gave me time to think. The ship was big, more than one floor, and a merc-ship this size tended to have more than one cellblock. No way of knowing where they'd put the kid. Most likely far from my cell, close to the control bridge.

I could have spared my thoughts, though. Not ten seconds later three mercs came bursting in, dragging what was a very wake and kicking Jack. She had been gagged, but that didn't stop her from buzzing like a _devil-beetle_, though. They chained her to the wall opposite me and removed the gag.

"You motherfucking sonuvabitch, I'll rip your fucking dicks off, you shithole of a shitbrain." Guess she was a little pissed.

"Guess you taught her something, Riddick." Pierce said amused.

"Didn't need to. She had a very good roommate." I said to drag the time. What the fuck was she even doing in my cell? I tried to force the chains off. Might be able to pull it of if I broke my left wrist.

"Well, I bet you're wondering what she's doing in your cell." He continued.

How sharp. Like he read my mind. What the fuck else would I be thinking?

"Call it a fun experiment." He said, when I didn't answer. "We were just discussing the lack of fun, weren't we?"

My chains were removed, but the handcuffs stayed on, and Pierce tossed my googles in my face. "Put them on." He ordered. _It's only ever an order, if you do it without thinking_. Thanks Jack. I'll use that. I put on my goggles and scanned the cell. They had found back-up and was back to being a ten man crew, all carrying those modified guns. I sighed. There was just too many mercs in the world who wanted to die painfully.

Jack was tied up, bleeding and bruised. Guess they wanted to die really painfully.

Five mercs were pointing their guns at me and three were aiming at Jack. Pierce was pacing the cell, just out of my reach.

"As I told you before, Riddick, we're going to have a little fun." He smiled. I notified myself to remember to break every tooth in his mouth _before_ I would kill him painfully. He kept on talking. And I would break his jaw, and maybe even his fingers – one by one. "It would have been fun if she'd been your kid, Riddick. But this will be even more fun." I couldn't imagine. "I'll give you a choice, Riddick. Either we kill you, or rape the girl." He stopped pacing.

I wanted to hurt him. I mean _really_ hurt him. Not just the breaking his jaw and fingers-hurt. Something more inventive. "How about I scull-fuck you and then kill you?"

He laughed. The sonuvabitch laughed. "Feelings sucks, don't they? Caring really hurts, hu?" He was serious now. "Make a choice, Riddick. Can't be that hard. You're a selfish guy. Sacrifice the girl." I looked at Jack. Only her arms were chained, guess they underestimated her. I clenched my jaw; had to play this. "You know, you do what ever you want with her." I said. He lifted his eyebrows. "No fun, Riddick. No fun as always." Then he smiled and nodded. Four of the mercs walked over to me and gagged me. I kicked one in the crotch and was hit by a stun-gun as payment. I looked around me, dazed. The three guys who had been aiming at Jack put down their guns at a safe distance and walked over to her. She looked at me, a little scared, mostly pissed. She kicked the first in the balls, wrapped her legs around the ankles of the second and threw him to the floor. The third one got as far as putting a hand between her legs, before she managed to kick him in the face. He fell to the floor and she caught his head between her legs and broke his neck.

"Guess she can hold her own." Pierce said impressed. He looked at her and I knew what he saw. He saw the tiger, the wild cat. And unlike me, he wanted to tame her. Jack would fight him, but she wouldn't have a chance. Pierce knew all about animals. He had been one of the mercs, who had sent me to the slam, where I got the shine job. Guess I still owed him for that.

He walked right up to Jack. She kicked out, but he dodged her foot, grabbed her hair and forced her head back against the wall. "You will learn to obey." He hissed.

"Obey this." She said, and sent a knee to his crotch. She just missed, and he slapped her across the face. She started bleeding from the nose. I stepped forward, but one of the mercs fired a warning-shot that just missed my head, and burned the ion-wall behind me. Pierce looked at me and smiled.

"You just stay there Riddick. This is your choice, remember?"

Of course I couldn't answer, the dirty rag in my mouth made sure of that. And what could I have said?_ "Your right, it was. Go right ahead_!"?

And I couldn't watch either.

She didn't scream, she didn't even swear. She just let him. I'd never thought Jack would take anything without a fight, but she did this time. And what was even worse: she did it to protect me, and I did nothing to stop it. She lay huddled together on the floor, her hands still in chains. Her eyes were wet, but shining with hate, and I weren't sure if she hated him or me most.

Pierce kneeled next to her and whispered in her ear. "Look what he's done to you." He whispered. "Look what he's made you into. A pet. A doll." Jack sobbed. Just once, but I knew he had won. I looked away. Yes, Pierce knew all about animals. Because he was one.

"You're gonna be his pet forever?" Pierce continued. He wasn't done. "Or are you gonna fight back?"

Jack took a deep breath, tried to keep the tears away. "Fuck you!" she hissed. Not really all that convincing.

Pierce smiled. "What if I gave you a choice as well? What if you could decide whether you should die, or if Riddick should die?"

He wouldn't. The sonuvabitch wouldn't. Of course he would. And Jack wasn't stupid. She'd choose to snuff off me. And who'd blame her?

Jack looked at me. The wound in her head from the night before was bleeding again, so was the cut in her chest and thigh. And new cuts allover were bleeding as well, including a cut in her lip. Her eyes were begging me, asking for another option. But there weren't one and we both knew it.

She took a deep breath. "Just kill me and get it over with." She whispered. I sighed and bowed my head. No. Not after what I let them do to you, Jack. Don't you dare!

Pierce smiled. "Cute. But wrong answer." He lifted his gun and shot me once, hit my shoulder, but the blast was enough to knock me out.

I guess they dumped me off with out caring to check if I was alive or dead. Didn't have to. I almost froze to death on that goddamned ice-planet. Would have, if I hadn't found that settlement. They didn't have a ship, but they had clothes. And as a thanks I didn't kill them.

I would have to find Jack again some day, but for now I've learned my lesson.

It can only end badly if you let someone come too close. Or if you didn't let them close enough.

**

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Eamon:** Uuh. Poor Jack. I so hated doing this chap, but it turned out very well, I think. Just one chappy left, a Jack-chapter. Tell me what you thought. In details. I love that. I don't have a beta, and I only ever get your opinion on my work. 

Copyright© 2006 By EamonSweetmay


	7. Turned Chapter seven

**How to break a girl.**

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Disclaimers: I don't claim to own Pitch Black – though I would like to own Vin Diesel

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Turned - **Jack**

_I must wait for the sunrise  
I must think of a new life  
And I musn't give in  
When the dawn comes  
Tonight will be a memory too  
And a new day will begin_

_(Andrew Lloyd Webber – "Memory")_

They had let her sit chained to the wall in the dark cell, where Riddick had been shot, just hours ago. She could see his blood not three meters away, a dark pool, glistening in the light from the white snow outside. At first she felt nothing but cold. Then the shame and guilt came, shame and guilt over not having fought back, over having been raped in front of Riddick, and not even having fought back.

She saw Riddick's face, heard him whisper to her. His voice told her to hold on, and be strong and never forget him. But it was just her imagination, because Riddick never got the chance to say goodbye, never got to say something soothing to ease her pain and fear. He was shot down like a rabid dog.

She started crying and the salt in her tears made the cut in her lip sting. She wasn't in her best physical form either, she had lost even more blood, and in the end the stay in the cold cell made her mind and body shut down completely.

The mercs stayed away for the rest of the night, the only one who came down to see her was Pierce. He'd watch her for a while, as she lay huddled together on the floor, then he'd sigh and leave.

When he came back around dawn he had three mercs with him. They took off her chains and dragged her out of the cell, and then they took her to a bathroom upstairs, where they threw her into a shower and turned on the cold water. She was ripped out of her pity and forced to focus on the world around her. She let the water stream into her mouth, it was bitter, but she was parched and starving and the cold water helped.

"You smell like a sewer rat." He said disgusted.

"Yeah? I'm surprised you could smell it with the stench on this ship:"

"Hey!" he kicked out and hit her leg. "You never insult a man's ship."

"What is that? Some kind of code?" she spat. "You can kill and rape and plunder and pilfer, as long as you don't insult each other's ships?" he was staring her down, but she didn't care. "You're all nothing but pirates, who turn on each other when the prize is right."

Pierce looked at her for a few seconds, then he scratched his chin and started to pace the bathroom while he looked at her intensely. Cold water was still poring down over her and there wasn't an inch of her that wasn't drenched. Her clothes stuck to her body and the cold made her gasp like a fish on land.

"What did you do with my money, girl?" he said in the end.

She smiled despite herself. "I gave it away."

He looked shocked. Then he started laughing, a booming laughter that echoed in the bathroom. "You gave it… you gave away 50 menthol kools?"

She nodded. Wanted to throw in a smart line, but decided that it wouldn't be necessary. Pierce looked as if the fact that his money was probably doing some good was far worse than the fact that they had been used for selfish and illegal activities. Still he couldn't help but to look a little impressed. "Damned be it, Jack my girl. You're further off your rocket than I could ever have imagined!"

"What are you gonna do? Shoot me?" she hissed.

"Not likely. I know you Jack. You could be a fine merc."

"Ghost me!" She spat "I'll never work for you!"

"Given the amount of money you stole from me, I'll say you'd be working for me forever. Think about it Jack. Being a merc is better than slam." He smiled and made to leave. Then he stopped whit his back turned to her and spoke in a whisper "You should have gotten eyes like his, Jack. That's why you stole that money. To be like Riddick." He smiled, and then he left her alone in the cold bathroom.

She felt Riddick's name like a slap across the face. She wrapped her arms around herself and cried her heart out. The tears mixed with the cold water and were washed away down the drain, so that no one could ever prove she had cried. After a while the crying turned into sobbing and then the tears stopped. She crawled out of the shower and found a towel, which she wrapped around herself.

What the hell was she supposed to do? Become a merc? Become like Johns, like Pierce? She'd rather die. But that didn't really say anything; because she'd rather die than do a lot of things, right then. In fact she'd rather die than keep on living, keep on living without Riddick…

Would Riddick have wanted her to die for him? Of course not. But he had a survival instinct that she'd never have.

"_That's why you stole that money. To be like Riddick."_ She felt something inside of her break, maybe it was her pride, if she had any left. It was true, she wanted to be like Riddick, but she couldn't bring herself to get the shinejob, when it came down to it. Because her eyes were the only part of her that still looked like the Jack Riddick had known when she was a kid.

But none of that mattered now. There were no more Riddick in this world, unless she became like him. She was weak now, but with time and training, she would get stronger. In time she could be the tiger again, the tiger that Riddick fell in love with. And then she'd kill all the mercs she could get to. For him.

**

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Eamon: So it ended up being sort of a run-up to TCoR anyway. How interesting. This became more… zappy than I'd started out for. And I might do an alternate ending, where they end up together and do dirty things. Wink, wink. But no one writes better smut than Batty…**

**Note**: One reader (Fitmama) wrote that she felt Riddick was proud of raping Maggie Pierce. I didn't try to write it that way and I wanna explain(Many things were tough for me to write into this chapter, and this was one of those). I see Riddick as some one who has done a lot of fucked up things in his life, some of them to survive, but most of them simple because it took so long for him to understand himself and the animal inside. He has that animal twist, which as I see it, could make him rape a woman out of shear desperation. The reason I had him bring it up so cruelly and cold, was of course because Pierce hit Riddick's only weak spot (In this story, anyway) that being his relationship with Jack. And also to show how cold and fucked up Pierce can be, when he shots his own wife like that.

Copyright © 2006 by EamonSweetmay


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